Rationalising institutional change: an investigation into the governance of developer contributions in Northern Irish planning

Abstract

The action of portioning and re-attributing the uplifts in value associated with the granting of planning permission has been a perennial concern for governments. This concern has been further compounded by the modernisation of governance activities associated with planning and development activities. Cotemporally, this action has been understood as part of a wider activity of Value Capturing. In 2015, planning powers were transferred to local government across Northern Ireland as part of a wider process of governance modernisation. These major institutional changes ignited a renewed interest in Developer Contributions and the distribution of the development gains associated with the granting of planning permission.

Whilst contemporary research chiefly focuses on the outcomes and mechanics of approaches to Developer Contributions, this research takes the novel approach of viewing Developer Contributions as a planning concept with distinctly normative characteristics. This study develops a methodological and theoretical approach which considers how Developer Contributions dictate a certain approach to practice, where policies, programmes and processes are bound by power relations which contour and define how decisions are made, and how the benefits associated with these decisions are attributed. Moreover, these outcomes are defined by the relationships between different actors across the governance network. This study closely examines the nature of those relationships to establish the wider rationalisation process which governs such institutional changes.


The main aim of this thesis is to evaluate the governance arrangements surrounding the extension of Developer Contributions across Northern Ireland. It employs a single case study approach assessing the impact across Northern Ireland, with Belfast City Council utilised as an embedded case. The analysis is driven by a Discourse Analysis, which is applied to a wide range of data sources, including policy/legislation documents, a national-level questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. For the analysis, the thesis adopts an agency centred approach, which includes 61 voices across the State/Market/Civil Society nexus (Public, Private, Civil Society and Political). The study develops a bespoke theoretical framework, and by suturing the ideas of Discursive Institutionalism and Governmentality, assesses the wider rationality process which drove institutional changes in the NI planning system.

This thesis puts forward several key contributions to knowledge, specific to both the NI case study and to the study of Value Capturing and Developer Contributions more broadly. First, the study develops a framework for assessing the contemporary governance of Developer Contributions, notably five key characterisation points which define the rationalisation process governing the policy development and decision making process. These being that: Developer Contributions present varied discursive construction(s) evidenced through Variegated claims on knowledge; They are used to fill a public financing gap; They present temporal shifts in rationalities; They internalise uneven power relations and have a restricting effect on agency; and when they are not transparent, they open the space for perceptions of corruption. Moreover, for the governance of Developer Contributions in Northern Ireland more specifically, the thesis presents three evidence-based policy recommendations, focused on a root and branch re-articulation of the DC which places a more equitable built environment process as the core ambition of Developer Contributions reform.

Thesis is embargoed until 28th February 2026

Date of Award	Feb 2024
Original language	English
Supervisor	Gavan Rafferty (Supervisor), Linda McElduff (Supervisor) & Heather Ritchie (Supervisor)